It has been estimated that there are four million bow hunters in the United States today. Most of these hunters pursue game as a recreational activity with little desire to take the life of a game animal. State of the art bows and arrows, however, make average bow hunters into proficient killers capable of depleting existing game stocks.
Many individuals have come to believe that the "catch and release" tactics long employed by fishermen can be applied to bow hunting to maintain a game animal's population at relatively high levels and enhance the hunting experience. Arrows which mark, but do not kill, an animal have been proposed to obtain "catch and release" encounters with game animals. Unfortunately, these arrows have been cumbersome to use thereby limiting their acceptance.